Eugene dance rockers Rare Monk delivered a night of country, dance and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll at Luckey’s Bar Friday night to celebrate a recent label-signing and EP release.
Sarah Palin and the Disciples, a local country-rock group featuring Isaac Thelin, Rare Monk’s saxophone/violin player, on fiddle, opened the show with a spastic cover of “You Are My Sunshine,” prompting fans to do-si-do around the pool tables. Midway into the set, the group played an impressive cover of MGMT’s “Kids.”
Adventure Galley, a local band recently signed to MySpace Records, followed. Drummer Brock Grenfell described their music as “a product of the 21st century. It’s a combination of rock ‘n’ roll attitude and dance pop sensibility.”
“We’ll be recording a full-length album to follow up our EP that came out last May,” Grenfell said. This album should be coming out this May. We’ll be doing a lot of touring around that. Most likely, we’ll be hopping on with a bigger band and doing an opening spot for them on a national tour.”
Rare Monk followed with a long, tight set until well after 2 a.m. and remained as energetic as the hip-shaking, gyrating audience.
“Over the last two years we’ve gone from, basically, being a jam band. You know, just friends messing around on instruments,” Thelin said. “Right now our sound is more musical, more accessible.”
University senior Brandon McAlexander, a Luckey’s regular, came to see his former roommate, Rare Monk drummer Rick Buhr, perform.
“Rick is really good at drums, and I actually really like Rare Monk. Their vocalist is really energetic. They play a great live show,” McAlexander said.
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